Moments Stolen
by Proliks
Summary: Dan goes to see Blair as she's getting ready for her wedding to Louis.


_**Moments Stolen**_

_WhatamIdoinghere…whatamIdoinghere…whatamIdoinghere?_

"_Louis_! The groom's not supposed to see his bride in her – _oh_," Blair's voice fell to a hushed whisper.

"Hi, Blair."

A wave of silence washed through the room as Dan stepped through the threshold of her bedroom's door. His heart was beating madly, even more so now that Blair Waldorf appeared before him sheathed in snow white. Wiping clammy palms surreptitiously against the back of his dress pants, Dan closed the door behind them. "You look… wow. Just, _wow_," he said breathlessly, toffee eyes memorizing Blair's silhouette in her custom Waldorf creation.

Cheeks flushing a gentle pink, Blair's lips curled upwards in a smile. "For a published and well-acclaimed author, you certainly are lacking ingenuity in your adjectives," she replied, insult belied by the wistful tone of her voice. Bowing her head, Blair looked at Dan through soft eyes. "But thank you, Dan. Your ice has _totally_ melted, by the way."

Dan held a hand to his forehead. "Oh, no," he said dramatically, "Who am I without my frigid interior?" He joked, laughed a little, even, but the heavy hood of sadness remained draped over his heart, for the woman he loved was mere hours away from taking another man's name. Dan felt his smile grow cold. "I can't believe this is really it. You're leaving," he spoke quietly, hand trailing against the lush blue wall as he stepped closer to Blair.

Swallowing hard, Blair lifted her left shoulder in a muted shrug. "Well, you told me I'd find my prince, didn't you?" she asked shakily, tension coating each word as she twisted the canary yellow ring on her finger.

Dan caught the action and pretended not to notice as Blair buried her left hand into dark brunette tresses. Coughing nervously, he decided to change the subject. "So, my book agent wants me to get started on my next novel and I'm kinda out of creative fuel these days. Now I know how Stephen King felt writing that atrocity _Pet Semetary_."

"Poor Humphrey. I'm sure inspiration lies in the unpredictable antics of a certain with-child blond," Blair remarked with hidden resentment as she turned to her vanity mirror, examining her make-upped countenance.

Running a hand through well-groomed locks, Dan sighed. "You always say that, but I'm starting to think that you're really under the impression that Serena and I are going to get back together."

Really, he wasn't surprised. His merry-go-round romance with the carefree Serena was the stuff ABC Family dramas were made of, and truth be told, Dan knew he'd always have a special place in his heart for his first love. But, as he had written in his epilogue to _Inside_, people change and grow and most importantly, learn. As Dan learned, he loved Serena, but was no longer _in love_ with the blond; he was tangled up in falling for Blair Waldorf instead.

Blair reached for her veil with a disbelieving shrug. A few seconds of her attempting to set the crown upon her head were followed by a frustrated "damn it!" Head dropped, tears sprung to her eyes.

Dan felt a pang radiate across his chest. "Blair," he said softly, hand falling lightly upon the brunette's. He ignored the urge to pull her close and kiss her, choosing instead to guide the veil out of Blair's hand.

Her eyes grew stormy with confusion. "Humphrey, what are you –"

Dan examined the expensive veil, the veil Louis would soon be lifting to see his bride's smiling face, before delicately maneuvering the teeth of the crown through thick curls. He didn't meet Blair's stare, knew that she was wondering what the hell this guy from Brooklyn was doing touching her hair; he just wanted to make everything perfect for her. Smoothing the few wayward strands that had dislodged from their firmly hair-sprayed place, Dan finally let out the breath he'd been holding. "There," he said with a sad smile.

Blair's fingers fluttered to her veil. She looked in the mirror, Dan's reflection visible just behind her.

They caught each other's gaze.

"Why are you doing this?" Blair finally said, spinning in her stance to face Dan head-on with an undecipherable gaze. "I know you're a Humphrey, but don't you have better things to do than make sure my hair looks decent?"

Dan felt his self-control beginning to slip. With everything he'd ever wanted to say to Blair, to gorgeous, intelligent, breathtakingly sharp Blair, on the tip of his tongue, he knew had to get out of there.

But he couldn't; Dan's feet were planted to the ground, the incessant desire in his heart refusing him reprieve.

It was silent in the room, dead silent.

Dan swallowed hard."I love you, Blair," he said, floodgates opening as Blair's mouth fell agape. "I love you, I _have _loved you, and I _will _love you even after you marry the man of your dreams and become that powerful woman I always knew you would be. And because I'm good at not letting anyone get in a word edge-wise, I just want to let you know that all I want is for you to be happy and to know that I'll be watching you walk down that aisle like the princess you are, because you deserve it. That's why I'm doing this."

With his heart's contents spilled before Blair's Louboutins, Dan suddenly felt a bit woozy. The incredulous and hurt expression on Blair's face served only to worsen the nauseous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Dan…" Blair started, her hand reaching forth.

Dan couldn't bear to look at the bride-to-be he was so humiliated. "Blair, I'm sorry," he apologized breathlessly, "I gotta – I gotta go, okay? I think I'm gonna be sick."

And with those words, he ran and didn't look back.

The sheer gravity of his actions hit Dan as he rushed through the glass doors. He, Dan Humphrey, had told Blair Waldorf that he was head over heels for her hours before her wedding.

After emptying his breakfast into a garbage receptacle outside of Blair's penthouse in the sky, Dan hailed a cab.

He just wanted to go home.

Sitting in a fifth row pew beside Rufus and Lily, Dan had kept his promise. He almost didn't come, almost let a taxi carry him right back to Brooklyn, but when he shut the door to the yellow cab, Dan didn't even have to think.

He told the driver, "St. Peter's."

Forty minutes later, when Blair walked down the aisle, snowy white train floating behind her like a divine cloud, Dan suddenly felt at peace with his confession. She knew the truth now. Blair knew the truth and that was all Dan could have hoped to give her.

He watched Louis beam at his future wife, watched Rufus and Lily squeeze each others hand in solidarity, watched blue connect with blue as Serena gazed at Nate from her position behind Blair.

Love was in the air.

"Do you, Blair Waldorf, take Louis Grimaldi to be your lawfully wedded husband?" the priest asked. "To have and to hold, to love and to honor, to cherish and support in sickness and in health for as long as you both shall live?"

Dan was biting his thumbnail, staring intently as Blair prepared to give her answer, when the bride's veiled head turned to face him.

She smiled.

He knew.

_AN: So I've been having super intense writer's block and, while not perfect, this is was little something to get the creative juices going again. Yes, I know I totally suck for that ending but I was feeling a little whimsical :) Hope you enjoyed._


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